Novelty lamp

ABSTRACT

A novelty lamp depicting a character formed of a vertical translucent tube having an electric light bulb therein and having the facial features of the character painted on the upper portion of the tube, a sleeve surrounding the lower portion of the tube representing the body of the character and provided with a plurality of slits extending vertically between an upper and a lower solid band, the lower band is moveable along the tube and can be rotated on the tube to simultaneously change the appearance of the body of the character and the quantity of light emitted by the lamp, and a cap fitted to the upper end of the tube having simulated hair attached thereto.

United States Patent [1 1 Pambello NOVELTY LAMP [76] Inventor: Samuel M.Pambello, 316

Bloomfield St., Hoboken, NJ. 07030 [22] Filed: May 24, 1971 [211 App].No.: 146,020

[ Nov. 27, 1973 Primary Examiner-Samuel S. Matthews AssistantExaminer-Michael L. Gellner Attorney-Gerald Durstewitz 5 7 ABSTRACT Anovelty lamp depicting a character formed of a vertical translucent tubehaving an electric light bulb therein and having the facial features ofthe character painted on the upper portion of the tube, a sleevesurrounding the lower portion of the tube representing the body of thecharacter and provided with a plurality of slits extending verticallybetween an upper and a lower solid band, the lower band is moveablealong the tube and can be rotated on the tube to simultaneously changethe appearance of the body of the character and the quantity of lightemitted by the lamp, and a cap fitted to the upper end of the tubehaving simulated hair attached thereto.

1 Claim, 4 Drawlng Figures PATENIED NOV 2 71973 SHEET 1 BF 2 INVENTOR.

PATENTEU 3. 7 75 604 sum 2 BF 2 I I I l/cszj IIILLI/ INVENTOR. 25 SAMUELM. PAMBELLO 1 NOVELTY LAMP BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The presentinvention relates to novelty lamps, and, more particularly, to suchlamps which depict a character.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide a lamp depicting a character.

Another object is to provide such a lamp which can be adjusted to varythe quantity of light emitted.

Another object is to provide such a lamp in which the appearance of thecharacters body changes as the lamp is adjusted to vary the lightemitted.

The foregoing objects are accomplished by providing a lamp comprising avertical translucent tube surrounding an electric light bulb and havinga characters facial features applied to the upper portion thereof, aslotted sleeve surrounding the lower portion of the tube depicting thebody of the character, one end of sleeve being moveable on the tube tosimultaneously change the appearance of the body and change the quantityof light emitted by the lamp, and means on the upper end of the tubedepicting the characters head covering.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A preferred embodiment of theinvention has been chosen for the purposes of illustration anddescription and are shown in the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a lamp according to the presentinvention adjusted so that minimum light is emitted;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the lamp of FIG. 1 adjusted to emit agreater quantity of light and change the shape of the characters body;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 on FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of the lamp of FIG. 1 adjusted in adifierent manner to emit a greater quantity of light and change theappearance of the characters body.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With reference to the drawings,there is shown a lamp according to the present invention which includesa translucent tube having a short upper section 11 and a long lowersection 12, a stand 14 for supporting the tube in a vertical position,facial features painted on the outer surface of the upper section 11, asubstantially opaque sleeve 15 of flexible material surrounding thelower section 12, a cap 16 positioned on the upper end of the tube andsimulated hair 17 glued thereto, and a socket 19 for receiving anelongated light bulb 20.

The stand 14 includes a ring 21 slidably engaging the bottom end of thetube 10, an inner ring member 22, three rods 23 having straight sections24 extending from the inner ring member 22 through slots in the ring 21and having curved sections 25 forming feet upon which the lamp stands.The ring 21 is welded to each of the straight sections 24 of the rods23.

The tube 10 has the color of the skin of the character which the lampdepicts. The facial features include eyes 26, eyebrows 27, nostrils 29,and a mouth 30. The paints used to form these features are of suitablecolors and are semi translucent so that light shining through the tubefrom the interior thereof passes through the painted features to givethe painted features a realistic appearance.

The sleeve 15 is tubular and has an annular band of tape 31 encirclingits upper edge and an annular band of tape 32 encircling its lower edge.The sleeve is provided with a plurality of regularly spaced verticalslits 34 extending between the bands 31 and 32 throughout thecircumference of the sleeve to divide the central portion of the sleeveinto slats 35. The sleeve is sized to fit the tube snuggly and, inassembling the lamp, after the sleeve is positioned on the tube thebands of tape are applied under tension to ensure a tight fit. The upperend of the sleeve is additionally glued to the tube to hold itstationary. The lower end of the sleeve is slidable vertically upon thetube to cause the sides of the sleeve to bulge separating the slats 35as shown in F iG. 2. The band of tape 32 is applied with sufficienttension to provide a fit between the sleeve and the tube which issufficiently close to enable it to remain in any position in which it isplaced.

The sleeve 15 is made of a vinyl plastic sheet secured to fabric backingwhich is commonly referred to as knit backed vinyl." The fabric backingfaces the tube 10 and is of a different color than the outwardly facingvinyl. As shown in FIG. 4, when the band 32 is rotated on the tube 10,the slats 35 twist into an S shape. In this position, the centerportions of the slats are disposed at an angle to the tube, one edgetouching the tube while the other is spaced from the tube. In thisangled position, the slats allow more light to be emitted, and, on oneside of the lamp, the fabric backing of the sleeve 15 is revealed. Thischanges the appearance of the body by giving it a gradation incolor fromone side to the other.

The light bulb socket 19 is provided with a threaded stem 37 whichextends through the ring 22, and a nut 39 is threaded onto the stem tolock the socket to the ring 22. An electric line cord 40 extends fromthe socket 19 through the stem and nut in the conventional fashion. Theline cord is provided with a conventional line cord switch (not shown)for turning the elongated light bulb 41 on and off.

In operation, when it is desired that the lamp give a minimum amount oflight, the band 32 is moved to its lowest position as shown in FIG. 1.In this position, the character depicted by the lamp has a slimappearance and emits light through the upper section II and through thethin slits 34. Enough light is emitted through the slits 34 to definethe body of the character and make the sleeve appear to be verticallystriped clothing.

When it is desired that the lamp give a greater amount of light, theband 32 can be slid upwardly to bend and separate the slats 35 to bothemit a greater amount of light and give the character a roly-polyappearance as shown in FIG. 2. Alternately, the band 32 can be rotatedon the tube to increase the emitted light and change the appearance ofthe body of the character from onehaving a solid color with brightvertical lines (at the slits) to one having a gradually changing colorwith bright S shaped lines.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the present in-- ventionprovides a lamp depicting a character which can be adjusted to vary thequantity of light emitted and the appearance of the character depicted.

I claim:

1 A novelty lamp depicting a fanciful character comprising a verticaltranslucent tube of uniform crosssection throughout its length havingopen ends and having contiguous upper and lower portions respectivelyrepresenting the head and body of the character; a stand engaging thelower end of the tube for supporting the tube in a vertical position inclose proximity to a supporting surface; means for mounting an electriclight bulb only within said lower portion of the tube on said stand;means on said upper portion depicting the head of the characterincluding areas of pigmented film depicting facial features applied tothe outer surface of said tube, a cap mounted on the top end of saidtube, and means mounted on said cap to depict the characters headcovering; and a flexible sleeve surrounding said lower portion of saidtube depicting the body of the character, said sleeve having upper andlower bands at the ends thereof and being provided with normallyvertical slits to form vertical slats therebetween, said lower bandbeing moveable vertically to simultaneously change the outline shape ofthe body and the quantity of light emitted by the lamp, said lower bandalso being rotatable on said tube to twist the slats and change thequantity of light and the appearance of the body without substantiallychanging the outline shape of the body and wherein the inner and outersurfaces of said sleeve are of different color and the center portionsof said slots are twisted by rotation of said lower band to reveal theirinner surface and thus give the body a two color appearance.

